Instant lottery tickets (e.g., “scratch-off” lottery tickets) are sold at many types of retail locations including, stores, such as grocery stores, general merchandise stores, and the like. Various configurations of lottery ticket dispensers have been proposed in the industry for this purpose, including electronic dispensers that automatically dispense a ticket from a bin or compartment upon receipt of an electronic command signal.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 9,339,121 proposes an electronic lottery ticket dispensing system that includes a plurality of lockable ticket compartments that each dispenses a ticket upon receipt of a dispense trigger signal from a computing device. Inside each ticket compartment resides a dispensing mechanism and an associated motor that actuates the dispensing mechanism. The dispensing mechanism advances at least one ticket from a continuous perforated fan fold of scratch-off lottery tickets. A logic circuit is in communication with the motor, controls motor actuation, and records the number of tickets dispensed. The logic circuit advanced to the exterior of the ticket dispenser. There is also an interface between the logic circuit and a computing device that records the number of tickets sold from the respective compartments. The exterior of the ticket dispenser includes a numeric display that indicates the number of tickets remaining in the ticket compartment. This display is adjacent the dispensing slot and, thus, not visible to the purchaser.
It has been found that many instant lottery players are, to some extent, superstitious and purchase lottery tickets according to certain superstitious beliefs. For example, some players will only purchase tickets on a certain day of the week, or date in a month. Certain players may wear a “lucky” clothing item when purchasing tickets, and so forth. Still further, many players have a lucky number, and are inclined to integrate this number into games of chance. For example, players will play certain lucky numbers in conventional Pick-3 or Pick-5 drawn games.
Unfortunately, to date, players have been unable to integrate their lucky numbers into selection and play of scratch-off lottery tickets. The present invention provides a solution to this problem.